Diabetes Care Poor Among Mentally Ill

A study of 313,586 Veterans
Administration patients with diabetes
and mental health problems
found that this population
is less likely to receive optimal
diabetes care. Of the participants,
25% had some type of
mental illness. The researchers
found that patients with mental
illness were 24% more apt to not
have had hemoglobin A1C testing,
24% more prone not to have
had their low-density cholesterol
tested, and 5% more likely
not to have undergone an eye
exam. Poor control of blood
sugar levels was also detected
in 32% of the patients.

The number of mental health
conditions per patient was a
factor in the quality of care. For
example, 24% of the patients
without mental health conditions
had poor blood sugar
control, compared with 28% of
patients with 1 condition, 31%
for patients with 3 conditions,
and 41% for patients with 6
diagnosed mental health conditions.